Jets return to bruising style in win over Colts

New York Jets running back Shonn Greene (23) rushes for a touchdown as teammate Dustin Keller (81) and Indianapolis Colts cornerback Cassius Vaughn (32) watch him during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 in East Rutherford, N.J. The Jets won the game 35-9. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

EAST RUTHERFORD — Before Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, there were plenty of suggestions circulating that incumbent tailback Shonn Greene might be on the verge of being replaced by Bilal Powell or Joe McKnight.

Nobody was saying that after the game.

After failing to post more than 40 yards in any of the Jets’ last four games, Greene exploded Sunday against the Colts, racking up a career high 161 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries.

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“We had this problem last year, where we started off slow,” Greene said. “You just have to keep working at it and keep practicing hard. At any moment it’s bound to break, and we did that today.”

Coming into the game, it was clear that establishing the run was going to be a priority for Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Tony Sparano. Greene had 91 yards on 14 carries in the first half alone, and was the driving force on all three of the team’s first-half touchdown drives.

“We wanted to get that big back rolling,” Ryan said. “We knew we were close.”

With Greene’s performance, the Jets certainly looked stylistically much more like the team that made consecutive AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010 than they did earlier in the season. Judging from the reaction by members of the Colts, Greene’s performance should go a long way toward reasserting the Jets’ reputation as a physical running team throughout the league.

“Shonn Greene is a really good back or he wouldn’t be starting for the Jets,” Colts corner Jerraud Powers said. “That’s what the Jets do. They run the ball.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of Greene’s performance was that it took much of the pressure off quarterback Mark Sanchez. Sanchez threw the ball just 18 times, and it certainly doesn’t look like a coincidence that Sunday was Sanchez’s first game without a turnover since week two against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Absolutely,” Greene said, when asked if his big day made things easier for Sanchez. “He has a hard job by himself, and whatever we can do as running backs, or the offensive line or receivers, to help him in games, that’s going to be important for him.”

Sanchez also suggested that, because the Jets weren’t forced into many obvious passing situations, they will have more play calls available next weekend against the New England Patriots — a team with a secondary that has been exploited early in the season.

“We ran the ball so well that we saved plenty of calls,” he said. “When you’re running the ball that well, you never want to stop.”

Stop? If Greene keeps running the ball like he did against Indianapolis, there won’t be any reason to.